Ian Perkins

DeathoftheCool wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-eOGN97dMs
they have ian so brian can do stuff like this

WHAT OMG I DONT EVEN THAT JUST HAPPENED WHAT?1!

Did someone slip something in Brian's Coca-Cola before the show?

DeathoftheCool wrote:

they have ian so brian can do stuff like this

Ah that was one of the best parts of the night! It was my first Gaslight show, so I wasn't sure if he did it often. Either way, I couldn't believe I was lifting my favorite musician back to the stage.

DeathoftheCool wrote:

they have ian so brian can do stuff like this

In that case, welcome aboard Ian!

IAN IS AWESOME.

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

IAN IS AWESOME.

sort of a taboo comment to make...

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IAN IS AWESOME.

Handsome, too. ; )

he definitely had a mic at the 45 shoot and if I remember correctly I saw one on the stream of the Brooklyn show, but he hasn't really used it. I really hope he takes over some of the backing vocals because they do sound pretty weak live and I believe Ian can sing.

I think the guys will make it work and find a way for it to sound less crowded on stage. I bet Brian drops the guitar on a few songs just to sing. When I saw him do it for OWL, Old Haunts and Cowgirls a couple years ago I thought it worked really well. It allowed him to get closer to the audience and it was only for a few songs.

He had a mic at Bamboozle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starstruck76/7251367284/in/set-72157629852412916

umm....Lorraine? you got some 'splainin to do?!

Regarding Ian in the band, I'm confused at the moment - from the live footage out there so far, his presence doesn't seem to bring anything positive or new to the band. His playing offers nothing exciting to the sound - you either can't hear him or when does turn up it's out of tune and muddys up the sound. Sure, we're told that he's such a nice guy and all but it all seems a bit pointless to me - he even looks out of place with the rest of the guys. He just stands there in the background looking quite lost and awkward plus there's no interaction with either the audience or his bandmates. It's actually quite distracting and I don't know what the idea of it is at this stage.

Maybe it's early days and it will all make sense once the new records out - maybe on the new songs he will have a part to play?

Gaslight are my favourite band - the kind you wait your whole life for to come along. Part of what makes them so special is the combination of the 4 of them - Brian, Alex, Alex and Benny. Now , to me it looks and feels as if there's an extra cog in the wheel for no apparent reason.

Remember what the late great Joe Strummer said in retrospect about The Clash and all the various line up changes late in their career - " Whatever a group is, it's the chemical mixture of those four people that make the group work. That's a lesson that everyone should learn - don't mess with it! Do whatever you have to do to bring it forward but don't mess with it. And we learned that..............bitterly."

As far as interaction, all the times I've seen him play with them for a full set (3 counting the video shoot), he's been smiling back and forth with all the guys. Cut him a little bit of slack! Playing on stage for a whole set is a bit different than coming out for one song on the American Slang tour or Revival.

http://www.baeblemusic.com/interview-video/The-Horrible-Crowes/Exclusive-Interview.html

Here they explain Ian's involvement in the band.

Dan - Don't really think it's your position to say. I met Ian at the Brooklyn show and he's one of the most enthusiastic people I've ever met. Regardless, you may not hear a difference, but 45 would've taken on a completely different sound without Ian.

Chaingang, Dan has every right to express his opinion.

Ian is a wonderful, kind person but that doesn't mean that there aren't going to be different views about his stage presence and it certainly doesn't protect him from analysis of his performance.

I haven't seen him live with the band yet, so I'll form an opinion after that. However, I really enjoy the freedom of everyone being able to express their opinions here without criticism. It's great to be a part of a forum where people aren't' attacked for having a negative position about certain elements of the band.

Personally, I like Ian. I've never really felt that he was too out of tune or too muddy, although I will gladly concede if someone can prove it to me with a video of a performance.

And on top of that, I like the almost romantic way of him joining the band. A lot of my love for the Gaslight is the romanticism of it-- the shore, the moonlight, the old cars, and summer nights. I think the story about how Brian pretty much dragged his friend, who had given up on music, back into music and made him a member of my favorite band is pretty cool, and very reminiscent of the every man theme that Brian loves so much. Obviously, that means nothing for the actual musical aspect of the band, and opinions on his playing seem obviously mixed, but regardless, it's cool.

rkirkpatrick25 - No it's cool to express an opinion, but it's not mine or Dan's position to decide whether or not Ian belongs there. The band made the call to add Ian and we should respect that, given they made it this far based on judgements like that. That said, how they sound with Ian is totally on the table for discussion - personally I think he should sit out songs like I'da Called You Woody.

My immediate reaction to Ian playing live on all songs is that I'm not too keen on it. I guess I'm just used to seeing the four of them on stage and it doesn't look right to me to see Ian there as well. However as others have said I won't pass judgement on the sound until I have seen them at Koko.

chaingangchorus wrote:

rkirkpatrick25 - No it's cool to express an opinion, but it's not mine or Dan's position to decide whether or not Ian belongs there. The band made the call to add Ian and we should respect that, given they made it this far based on judgements like that. That said, how they sound with Ian is totally on the table for discussion - personally I think he should sit out songs like I'da Called You Woody.

I agree with this. It's their call, and I don't think they made it based on a "oh he's our friend, we'll let him play even if he makes us sound worse" sort of thing.

Like a couple people have said, I don't know what folks are talking about with him sounding out of tune and what not. (If you show me a video proving it, I'll concede). A former guitar tech (for a band who never sounded out of tune when he was responsible for said tuning) being out of tune is kind of a funny concept.

I've seen them twice now this year and haven't heard any change except for the sound being stronger.

Also, I mean, can you really tell it's him and not Brian? Besides, it's the start of the tour and Brian said they need to practice. Also, it could easily be Brian struggling because he seems pretty concerned with his vocal performance right now, and concentrating on both isn't easy.

One other thing I thought of is, if you've ever seen Springsteen live, he often has 3-4 guitar players on each song. He might have Nils playing lead, and then he himself, stevie, and sometimes either patti or susie playing rhythm. It's not "necessary" to cover all the parts but it gives a pretty freakin huge sound.

I'd say just try and keep an open mind! The band obviously did it for a reason. As Brian has said "If you want to hang with us, you've got to grow with us. That's the deal."

Some interesting points well made!

Just want to stress I'm not dissing Ian or the band in anyway - I thought the Horrible Crowes record was amazing and in my opinion Ian seemed well suited to that project. His appearances with Brian on the Revival Tour were awesome. It's just to me he seems so out of place in Gaslight in every sense of the word. I concede that I cant make a full judgement until Handwritten is released and I see the new line up play live for myself - maybe then it will become clear why 3 guitars are needed. But going on the Live Stream performance and other clips - I don't get it - both musically and visually.

If you think of bands that employ 3 or more guitarists you can see why that's needed - off the top of my head - E Street Band and Radiohead have songs that are complex and intricate and have woven parts, especially in E Street's case you'd need all those guitars just to compete with the piano, organ, violin, horns, backing singers etc!!

Think of every song from Boomboxes and Dictionaries right up to 45 - in my opinion they're all perfect - both live and on record - I fail to see where the 3rd guitar is needed to enhance those songs! How does having the roadie and friend onstage playing the same chords as Brian make the songs or band better?! They are what they are - basic punk, soul, folk, rock songs, whatever, played by an awesome 4 piece ,nostalgic, passionate band from New Jersey - to a small town bloke like me from northern England thats what makes them seem other worldly and romantic and so appealing - visually and musically. I guess now that there's a British bloke standing up there joining in, it kind of shatters the illusion a bit! I know that may seem a selfish view but it's just an indication of what Gaslight mean to me and how important they've been to my life.

I realise that Gaslight will evolve as a band and so they should. I agree with what Brian said: " If you want to hang with us, you've got to grow with us. That's the deal." But the question was, "what do we think of Ian's involvement so far?" and going on what of I've seen and heard, I still don't get it. It does look to me that he's involved because he's a nice bloke, the bands friend and they want to give him the thrill of being more involved in it - to me at this stage there's no evidence to suggest otherwise.

As I say, after Handwritten is released and they play the songs live maybe it will become clear why Ian is heavily involved now - if so I will gladly eat my own hat and enjoy 'growing with the band'!

I really don't think Gaslight would risk their sound and live performance just to be nice and give a friend a thrill. They seem to take their career very seriously.

Everyone's allowed to have their opinion on Ian, whether it's negative or positive. But the arguments given so far as to why he's tainting the whole Gaslight experience for some are not very convincing and are based off of rehearsal shows and videos on the internet, as well as things that can't even be proven (playing off-key notes for example). I don't really know what the heavy analysis is for at this point. Brian says he's a touring guitarist. I don't get why this is so difficult to accept. It's not like he's kicking across the stage Angus Young-style during "Blue Jeans..." and ruining the concert or something.

ive noticed brian plays with a capo more now. maybe he's just helping to take some of the pressure off brian for guitar parts. i think once they get into it this'll be a great help to the band

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

..... Brian says he's a touring guitarist. I don't get why this is so difficult to accept. It's not like he's kicking across the stage Angus Young-style during "Blue Jeans..." and ruining the concert or something.

Hee hee that image makes me chuckle!

He's a 'touring guitarist'. There lies the problem for me. To me an additional touring musician is there for an obvious reason - to create a sound that couldn't be made with just the official band playing. They may be needed to play keyboards, synth, horns, strings etc. An extra touring guitarist may be used when there's only normally one - in Greenday's case for example. I know youtube recordings are not the best to rely on but with the Live Stream show we still got to see them play with 3 guitarists and what each will be doing - and it looks to me like Ian isn't doing anything to justify 3 guitarists being on stage.

Maybe I am being too critical at this point when there's no need, I don't know. I'll readily admit that I hate change - in anything. So when Gaslight have this extra guitarist for live shows I find that difficult to accept when I can't see the need for the change. Gaslight were perfect as they were to me. If Ian joined the band officially to take the group to the next level, contributing songwriting, musicianship and stagecraft, I'd be cool with that - we all want the band to grow and develop. But a 'touring guitarist' playing a couple chords behind Brian on 'Here's Looking At You Kid' is messing with the chemistry too much for me!

Honestly, Dan, I can see why you'd have some concern. It's usually kinda weird when a band gets a new member, but I've seen 'em with Ian and honestly I never thought twice about it. In fact the sound was pretty damn good, and I didn't feel like he was interfering with anyone.

Maybe someday down the road he'll try to be more involved with the audience but I didn't feel like he had to.

I just had another thought - remember when Brian said that they were experimenting with different sounds on Handwritten like keyboards? Maybe for some of the new songs Alex would hop on a keyboard so they need Ian there for the second guitar part. (remember that Alex played a bit of keys with The Horrible Crowes).

If I had to take a guess, I'd say that they think Ian is necessary to help play the (yet to be heard) new material, but we've only heard him on older songs (and 45) and they haven't quite figured out how to fit him in yet. Again, just a guess.

have a little faith in the boys and give it some time

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but I've seen 'em with Ian and honestly I never thought twice about it. In fact the sound was pretty damn good, and I didn't feel like he was interfering with anyone.

Exactly my thoughts. That's why I don't understand the intense spotlight on him. At least at this stage in the game. He's not interfering. So why is there any criticism, and actually, why does Gaslight have to justify why he's there?

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Maybe for some of the new songs Alex would hop on a keyboard so they need Ian there for the second guitar part. (remember that Alex played a bit of keys with The Horrible Crowes).

Something I hadn't thought of. You make an excellent point.